NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 5

So, I have made it to the weekend. Hooray for small victories. So far, I have been keeping up with word counts, even going a smidge over for some cushion. That and  the scene I am writing hasn't quite ended by the time I reach the number allotted for the day.

Already hitting a few snares in the story. First, I thought that the MC's mother was going to have more of a role in the story. However, I ended up killing her within the first few pages. So, not as much of a role as I had originally planned. And then a new character popped up, out of the blue. I don't know where she came from. The recesses of my subconscious, I suppose. Anyway, she has suddenly become integral in the beginning and I have this nagging feeling that we are going to see her again. Why and how still remains a mystery.

There are a few things going on with the story that are bugging me. First off, my inner editor is banging her tin cup on the bars of the cell that I have locked her away in for the month. There are times where it feels like it is taking every ounce of restraint I have to not go back and start editing from the beginning. Knowing I could have written that better, chosen better wording, arranged the scene better. I have to force myself to keep plodding ahead. And there are times when I want to go back and cut entire paragraphs and start over. But editing is for December.

I feel like my story is meandering around before it actually finds itself and what it is supposed to be doing. It was the same way with my 2009 NaNovel. I think I was 30 pages in before the adventure idea I had planned out actually started. It wasn't a boring story (at least I don't think it was) but it just took a while to start off on the adventure part. So does that mean I shouldn't worry, the good stuff is coming, or am I writing things that aren't needed. Again, editing.

Not sure how I feel about my MC either. I feel like I have taken every flaw and insecurity that I have and wrapped them in a nice little bow and named them Hawke. I feel like this guy would jump at the site of his own shadow. He is just awkward and timid and overly polite for no reason. I don't like it. He feels...wrong. This is not the way I wanted him to be. Yeah, I wanted him to be slightly apprehensive, but instead of just sprinkling it in, I might have knocked to the whole pepper shaker into the mix. Again, not sure how to reign that in and fix it. Maybe the more I get out on paper it will somehow right itself.

I haven't been able to make any of my regions write ins. I am hoping that things will go better the second week when it comes to that. Keeping my fingers crossed. I get so much more done when I go to a write in. And it just more fun to write. Anyway, back to the grind. Balancing writing this novel and getting a presentation together for class. Hooray, my life rocks.